Registering on the VSS website allows you to access features only available to members such as sending messages to other members and seeing lists of members.

To start the process, go to the home page, and click “Register” on the top menu.

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This will display the registration window, which prompts you information we want about you.

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New users can specify any user ID they like (within reason). A common form of user name is “firstname.lastname” all in lower case. But this name is not critical; for many people, their email address might be easier to remember, and we allow you to use this as an alternative.

Passwords should be unique to the website and use a mixture of random numbers, letters and special characters.

You will be asked to confirm that you are a real person (as opposed to an automated process call a “bot”) by ticking the box on the reCAPTCHA panel.

In the right-hand column, we ask you to provide information about yourself and your astronomical interests. This information includes:

You real name (so we know what to call you!)

A brief bio (to let us know your interests and people with shared interests can connect to you)

The country you live in (as this helps us understand our members)

The city you live in (as per above)

The techniques you are using or are interested in (similar to your bio)

We also use this information to check that you really are a variable star observer, and not a hacker using an automated process (they usually fill form fields with gibberish).

Click the “Complete Signup” button to finish your registration process. You will be shown a message telling you to check your email.

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When you check the email, you will find something like the one below. Click the hyperlink to activate your new account.

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This will activate the account, and you will see a message prompting you to log in.